With my own two hands

Photo 1: With our own two hands

Photo 2: I'm gonna make it a better place

Photo 3: Jennifer collecting organisms

Photo 4: Fishing for answers

With my own two hands

I know what you’re thinking. How can I be talking about my hands? Maybe I’m a talking dog, but hands? Aikona. You’re right; I’ve got four paws and am very proud of them.

In this case, however, it is artistic license. A figure of speech.

In fact it is not even that. It is about a Jack Johnson song. Now you’re thinking the heat must have gotten to this dog. What has a Jack Johnson song got to do with the Toyota Enviro Outreach? Everything actually. Let me explain.

While driving towards Hwange from Mana Pools, Gerhard slipped a CD into the player. Yip, the song was With my own to hands by Jack Johnson. I pricked my ears:

I can change the world

With my own two hands

Make it a better place

With my own two hands

Make it a kinder place

With my own two hands

Look at the ex-students from SAWC that visit at every park. Their worlds change when they see Theresa. After her workshops they can go and make their place a better place.

The song continues:

I can make peace on earth

With my own two hands

I can clean up the earth

With my own two hands

I can reach out to you

With my own two hand

Look at Jennifer Newenham doing water quality assessment in the rivers of the parks we visit. It is a rapid assessment technique which looks at aquatic macro invertebrates. The method determines a total score related to the organisms’ tolerance of water quality. Organisms with a high rating are sensitive to poor water quality and those with a low rating are tolerant of poor water quality. If the water quality is poor, she makes recommendations to the park.

I’m gonna make it a brighter place

With my own two hands

I’m gonna make it a safer place

With my own two hands

I’m gonna help the human race

With my own two hands.

Bryan Haveman from WESSA uses his own two hands to play the Enviro game with the communities. Suddenly they understand the balance between man and nature better, making their place a safer, brighter place.

I can hold you

In my own to hands

And I can comfort you

With my own two hands

But you’ve got to use

Use your own two hands

That’s the crux of it all. The Toyota Enviro Outreach would have been meaningless if the people we visit didn’t reach back to us. All we can say is that they grabbed our hands with all their hands.

With our own two hands

Our own two hands

Now all of this brings me to the simple, yet effective mathematics of the Toyota Enviro Outreach:

2+2=4

And

4x4=Conservation

This is Buddy thanking Jack and barking off ‘till tomorrow

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